Click on a thumbnail picture below to see the full size version. 29 Entries. Thursday, April 2 View Page I’m getting the patch ready for the 2009 season. Last Fall I expanded the patch as much as I could. I still only have room for two plants but they each will have 550 sq. ft. this year. Today I had 8 cubic yards of compost delivered. I’ve also added about 80 lbs of spend coffee grounds per week all Winter long. Once I spread the compost I’ll till it in and get a soil test done to see how my numbers look. Wednesday, April 22 View Page I can’t wait any longer so here we go a few days early. I’ve heard some other growers in Virginia already have their plants in the ground so I don’t want to get behind. Wednesday, April 22 View Page I filed the edges and soaked them first in a hydrogen peroxide solution and then in a seaweed/fish solution for about 4 hours. After that they went into a wet paper towel. Saturday, April 25 View Page This year I’ve decided to grow the 1566 Rodonis and the 1568 Connolly. Thank you Bill and Steve for the seeds! I planned on starting on April 25th but I just couldn’t wait… Sunday, April 26 View Page The 1568 was first to sprout in about 18 hours. The 1566 wasn’t far behind in about 24 hours. As soon as they sprouted I planted them in pots with seed starting mix. This weekend while I’ve been waiting for them to sprout I did my final patch preparations. I added my amendments and did a final till. As you can see I put up some silt fencing. We’ll see how long it lasts until the neighbors complain. This year I am also doing a drip watering system. Today I laid out the main lines and valves. Next weekend I’ll lay out all of the drip lines. Sunday, April 26 View Page They both popped up out of the soil today. Here’s the 1566 Rodonis. Sunday, April 26 View Page Here’s the 1568 Connolly. Both look healthy. I’ll wait until the first true leaves appear before I transplant them into the patch. Sunday, May 3 View Page Both plants went into the patch this week. So far everything is going great. The weather has been cloudy and cool though. Here’s the 1568 this evening. Sunday, May 3 View Page Here’s the 1566 this evening. The growth is about equal with the 1568. Last year I used the Agro-k feeding program and I was pleased with the results. This year I’m going to be doing my own variation on the program. I started my first application a few days after they were transplanted. Wednesday, May 20 View Page Here is the 1568 today. So far it is the better of the two plants. May has been very wet and cool so growth has been slow. Low temps this week have been in the low 40’s. Wednesday, May 20 View Page This is the 1566. There are a lot of weeds in the patch so this weekend I am planning on tilling to get rid of them. I’ll lay out my drip lines after tilling. Saturday, May 23 View Page Today I spread mycor over the entire patch and did a final tilling. After that I laid out my drip tape. This was a job! Last year I had severe powdery mildew so I want to keep all of the water off the leaves. This is why I decided to go with the drip tape. I used T-tape from dripwork.com. Here’s a picture after everything was done this evening. That’s the 1568 in the picture. Wednesday, May 27 View Page Here is the 1568 this evening. I am having a problem with both plants growing straight up instead of lying down. I’m worried that the vine is going to snap. I’ve tried supporting them with sticks to prevent them from snapping. I didn’t have this problem last year. Wednesday, May 27 View Page Here’s the 1566 this evening. It’s also growing straight up! Wednesday, June 3 View Page Both plants finally touched down this week but not without some problems. Here is the 1568 today. It seems to have a genetic mutation that wants to make it grow in a spiral instead of a straight vine. I have to stake it on a daily basis to try to straighten it out. The stump also developed a split that goes all the way through. Wednesday, June 3 View Page Here’s the 1566 today. Its main vine flopped over the opposite direction that it was supposed to. I have been slowly turning it 180 degrees this week. I couple more days and I should have it straightened out. It also has a crack on the stump but it does not go all the way through. Wednesday, June 3 View Page I made some patch shoes this week. I screwed some old shoes to some plywood boards. They work great! Wednesday, June 10 View Page My plants are doing awful this year. I can’t figure out what is wrong. This is the 1568 today. It continues to want to grow in a spiral so I am fighting it on a daily basis. The latest problem is that neither the 1568 nor the 1566 is putting out any secondary vines. Both plants are much smaller compared to last year at this time. Wednesday, June 10 View Page Here is the 1566 today. I hope it starts to put on some growth soon! Monday, June 22 View Page It’s June 22nd and my plant is looking pathetic. Last year at this time my plants were beautiful and I pollinated my keeper on June 25th. My chance of growing a new PB this year is over so in an act of desperation I sprayed some miracle grow and applied some granular urea fertilizer. Friday, July 10 View Page What do you know, the miracle grow and urea worked. Both plants are taking off and putting out secondaries. Maybe this season can be saved! Monday, July 13 View Page I turned the 1568 so it will grow towards the 1566. Depending on which one gets female flowers first is the one I will keep. The 1568 has no male flowers. The 1566 has plenty of males. Wednesday, July 15 View Page The 1568 is the first to get a female so I’ve decided to keep it and cut the 1566 back and use it as a pollinator. The 1568 is still not producing any males. This was a 5 lober pollinated this morning. Friday, July 17 View Page Getting ready to spray fungicide in the patch. Tuesday, July 21 View Page The 1568 today. Growing great now. Tuesday, August 4 View Page I have attempted 5 pollinatons on the 1568 and all have aborted. This is the final one that aborted. They all grew to about the size of a softball and then aborted. With no more females to pollinate and no more males to pollinate with my season is over. I think my 1568 plant was sterile. Tuesday, August 4 View Page The 1568 just started to develop male flowers but when they opened they were under developed and had no pollen. Another indication that the plant was sterile. Saturday, August 8 View Page Season is over for me. I tore the plant out today and this is what’s left. 2009 was a very disappointing year. I’ll be back next year though! Friday, October 30 View Page We carved our pumpkins for Halloween tonight. Can you guess which one is mine? Happy Halloween!